The Book of Records

Intricate and dazzlingly expansive... This is a novel with as much to offer the heart as the mind... "Pack a book that can withstand a thousand readings," Arendt's husband advises when they're to be interned by the French authorities. The Book of Records is one such volume * Observer *
Thien plunges the reader into thrilling, perilous leaps back and forth across time.... A marvel of research and imagination... Thien's dazzling historical somersault doubles as a plea for humanity * FT *
Rapturous... The Book of Records is a rich and beautiful novel. It's serious but playful; a study of limbo and stasis that nonetheless speaks of great movement and change * Guardian *
Thien strikes worthy comparisons to Italo Calvino, Walter Benjamin, Gaston Bachelard and Ali Smith's seasonal quartet. This staggering novel blurs the line between fact and fiction to underscore the importance of storytelling itself, as a practice of endurance, and resistance * New York Times *
An inventive, emotional, profound look at displacement, memory and morality * Mail on Sunday *
Beautifully written... a beguiling novel about how to life a good life, and the role of history in our everyday * The Herald *
One of the highlights of the novel is Arendt's escape from occupied France, through which Thien guides us with great patience and dramatic skill... Thien writes brilliantly * Telegraph *
Fascinating * TLS *
[A] beautifully-composed novel * PA Media *
A refreshing, surprising, wise, and thought-provoking novel about history, fate, and human interactions. Madeleine Thien has an expansive and searching mind and is a perfect companion for a voyage that takes us both inward and outward to a place that our minds have not been to -- Yiyun Li
Rich, ambitious and utterly engrossing, The Book of Records is at once a Borgesian meditation on Time's overlapping folds, and a complex, moving feat of human storytelling. Madeleine Thien is an extraordinary novelist -- Claire Messud
An immersive, mind-bending experience that intertwines characters and perspectives seldom connected, to create unexpected, resonant bonds. Thien's genius and mastery of her craft is on full display here -- Weike Wang, author of Chemistry
A tale of exile and loss, of reinvention and longing. But most of all, it is a gifted writer's uncompromising vision of a world where the imagination has the profound ability to transform the rules of existence, and provide new mercies to those most vulnerable. Transportative, gripping, and tender, The Book of Records has come to us at a moment when we need it most. How lucky we are -- Maaza Mengiste
I am enthralled by this book and amazed. It is capacious. Something so small should not be able to hold so much. And it is beautiful-an elegy of death and remembrance, of forgetting and of life -- James Gleick
Generous, breathtaking... This book is a refuge... a place in time in which the fortunate, brave reader is invited to remember how much love and truth and mystery there is in this world -- Moriel Rothman-Zecher
A symphony of time, memory, and human resilience, which reminds us of the enduring power of compassion and understanding; compelling us to reflect on our shared histories and the silent sacrifices made by those who dared to dream beyond their circumstances -- Xinran, author of The Book of Secrets
Deeply serious and delightfully playful, The Book of Records is a kaleidoscopic work, nourishing of both mind and soul, which travels seamlessly and skilfully through time and space with hallucinatory clarity -- James Scudamore
Both poetic and lucid, The Book of Records is exquisitely rich and ambitious, weaving a shapeshifting labyrinth of memories and loss... A much-needed book in times like these, it reminds us of the enduring light of humanity' -- Yan Ge
Intricately blends historical and speculative fiction to tackle contemporary global issues... a sobering meditation on the human condition in times of crises * Europe Herald *